I have cockatiels and if given a choice they will eat only seeds. I also do the chop mix, but I call it birdie mash and I put whole wheat bread, oatmeal, nuts, hard boiled egg, green pepper, carrot, cooked pasta or rice, broccoli, cauliflower, chick peas, and leafy greens into food processor. Nothing wet, you want a crumbly mixture. Cockatiels don't like fruit, but budgies may so add that only to food dish, not to mixture. I found freezing made it too wet, but the vacuum sealer with the vacuum bowls kept the mix fresh for almost a week. Use a few ingredients each time and switch with each new batch. Now to switch to pellets, I put a little seed in the bowl with the pellets. He'll eat the seeds and then when he's hungry he'll eat the pellets. Get a very small size pellet. In order for my birds to eat a well rounded diet, I feed the birdie mash for 3 hrs. in the morning and then a bowl of pellets until after noon and then seed. This is a measured amount of each so I know how much they are eating of each. The veggies must be thrown out, but if I see they didn't eat their pellets, I cut back on the seed and usually they will finish off the pellets too. Try it. I've had very good success with my finicky eaters.
. Sprinkle a bit of his seeds on top at first to show him it's food.
